The 65th Washington State Legislature kicked off a 105-day session January 9, swearing in 18 new House and 12 new Senate members, one of the largest freshman classes for both chambers in many election cycles. The Senate is controlled by a Republican majority of 25-24, while the House majority is 50 Democrats to 48 Republicans.…

Members of the eight-member Joint Legislative Education Funding Task Force created by ESSB 6195 during the 2016 session decided they would meet at least monthly starting in May, and would begin by “defining basic education.” The task force was created to identify a path forwardfor the state to reduce its reliance on local levies for funding…